PLoS, the Public Library of Science, have launched their third open access journal: PLoS Computational Biology. The Public Library of Science is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature a public resource.
In its announcement, PLoS says: “The Public Library of Science (PLoS) and the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) are pleased to announce the June 24 launch of PLoS Computational Biology, a new open-access, peer-reviewed journal reporting major biological advances achieved through computation. Unique in its scope, the journal publishes research from one of the most rapidly growing and exciting areas of scientific inquiry. As a collaboration between a scholarly society and an open access publisher, the journal also provides further momentum to the shift towards unrestricted access and use of all scientific and medical literature.” PLoS Computational Biology joins PLoS Biology
In an announcement on 27th June, PLoS Biology revealed that it has an ISI 2004 Impact Factor of 13.9, making it the number 1 general biology journal in the ISI rankings.
In a related announcement, another open access publisher, the U.K.-based BioMed Central announced ISI impact factors. BioMed Central is a for-profit independent publishing house committed to providing immediate free access to peer-reviewed biomedical research. Five BioMed Central journals received their first impact factors this year. BMC Bioinformatics, with an impact factor of 5.42, has reinforced its reputation as one of the top journals in its field. Launched in 2000, it is the second highest ranked bioinformatics journal, and already has an impact factor comparable to that of Bioinformatics (5.74), the most established journal in the field, which has been publishing for more than two decades and is supported by a major society. BMC Genomics enters the Journal Citation Report with a respectable 3.25. This puts it in the top third of the genetics titles, and the top 20% of biotechnology journals. BMC Molecular Biology has an impact factor of 3.12, and BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders an impact factor of 1.00, putting it in the top half of the orthopaedics listing.
These numbers are very good and go some way in laying to rest accusations of Open Access journals accepting lower quality research. In fact both PLoS and BioMed Central reject around 90% of the papers submitted to them (see quote by Mr Vitek Tracz of BioMed Central, Chairman, Current Science Group at MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE: “It is a bigger in journals which reject a lot and it is a smaller problem for journals which do not reject so many. A top quality journal like PLoS and our journal, Current Biology, reject 90 per cent or so of papers, but for many journals which reject 30 or 40 per cent of papers the problem is smaller.”